GRAY AREAS, FINE LINES

Hello there dear gist partner.

How are you doing today? February is coming to an end, how has the month been for you? I pray that God will give you the grace to do all that you need to do before the month ends.

Welcome to today’s gist.

I am going to go out on a limb and assume that you know the concept of a ‘gray area’, that fine line between what is right and what is wrong where we have to tread carefully on so that we do not fall off into wrong; I’ve walked that line before and I can guess that you may have too. I’ve been thinking about that place for a while now I decided to share some of my thoughts about it.

As a Christian, you have already come to the place where you understand that sin should not be a part of you life; the things that God has expressly condemned are a no-go for you and that is wonderful; I am going to quickly jump in and say that if you haven’t gotten to this point as a Christian, where you know that your freedom in Christ means that you leave sinful ways, there is a problem and I think you need to check your heart and truly submit yourself to God.

But what of those things that the Bible did not expressly condemn? Or the things that are our modern realities but weren’t applicable in Bible times so there are no express instructions on them? These are the things that fall into the ‘gray area’, the ‘I can’t say immediately whether or not it is wrong’ issues. What then do we do about them?

The Bible is the most complete book to exist in this world, especially for us Christians, all you need is in it; seems funny that I am saying this just a few seconds after saying that there are certain realities that we face that aren’t expressly talked about in the Bible but let me quickly run with you into Probate law: in the writing of a will, there is something referred to as a ‘residual clause’; this is the clause that covers every property that the testator (maker of the will) has that was not clearly accounted for in the will, either because he forgot or because he acquired such property after making the will. What the residual clause does is to make sure those properties that were not specifically captured in the will ‘no lost’; it gives a directive for how they should be shared.

Do you know that the Bible has residual clauses? One of such clauses was captured by Paul and it goes: ““All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up.” (1 Corinthians 10:23, ESV). This is a residual clause, a standard for measurement of those peculiar cases where there doesn’t seem to be an express “do” or “do not” applicable for that situation because the thing doesn’t seem sinful. The question to ask is whether this thing is beneficial and constructive, like NIV puts it? Is it expedient and does it edify, like KJV asks? As a Christian that is following God, you don’t stop at “will I sin if I do it?” “Will it take me to hell?” You move beyond that to ask yourself if it is truly a necessity to do that thing, if God will be glorified and, also very importantly, whether your actions can cause your fellow Christian to stumble; this is where I want to dwell on for a bit today.

Paul, showing us another residual clause, says: “Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.” (1 Corinthians 8:13, ESV) This means that if my otherwise innocent actions will cause problems for my fellow Christian, especially those who are new and budding, I should not be doing that, why? Because as a Christian, I have duty to “…encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.” (1 Thessalonians 5:14b, ESV). This is also why Paul would also say: “And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.” (1 Corinthians 8:11-12 ESV) This means then that you can commit sin by doing something that may ordinarily not have amounted to sin and how does that happen: when your actions cause a fellow Christian to sin, you have also sinned because na you cause am to sin.

So you see why I said these ‘gray areas’ walk the fine line between right and wrong? Because how you handle a particular situation given the circumstances may amount to sin.

So what? Is God trying to be a wicked taskmaster and forcing you to just keep following unnecessarily long rules? No!! God is rather saying this to help you, as well as His children around you, live well. And like all other sins, you’re always better off forgoing to do those things that will cause you and others to sin than doing them, so free am, you go still dey alright.

May God help us to continue to walk with Him and forgo whatever will cause those around us to sin.

TUNES AND THOUGHTS: our song recommendation for this week is ‘Shoe maker’ by 121 Selah , Remii and Sinmidele. This is such an interesting song and I am sure you’ll understand when you listen to it, it is a reminder to appropriate issues properly, not to give to men wetin no concern them; my favourite line goes: “I no go carry matter of heart go give a human oo.…” I pray that as you listen to it, you remember He in whom you can trust with the knowledge that He can handle it.

Audiomack: https://audiomack.com/121selah/song/shoemaker?share-user-id=140072136 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/76lJ2dhpZ4GjBqm78xu5kv?si=L-0HR8DsQW6wm7pQ2P64dA 

YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=tAHtohKKQPI&si=P60teArlfO5P6ncJ 

 

On this day, 2 years ago, while sitting with my friends Joy and and Mercy at “Sammy’s” in Port Harcourt to eat dinner, I started my Duolingo journey properly and 2 years later, I am still going strong; im learning French and basic chess, I love this second one so much because I had been trying for years to learn but it was only until Duolingo that I was able to understand wetin the entire game dey about and I am enjoying learning. Duolingo now offers chess, maths and music lessons in addition to languages so you can jump on it, you’ll find it easy to follow.

Well, that is that about that as far as that is concerned, see you next week.

 

Love,

Achenyo.

 

PS. Today is my friend Mwanret’s birthday, please say a prayer of blessing for her, thanks and God bless.